Sprague admits use of Andro

STOCKTON - One of Stockton's most accomplished baseball players said that during his 11-year playing career he took substances that have since been banned by Major League Baseball.

Jason Anderson

STOCKTON - One of Stockton's most accomplished baseball players said that during his 11-year playing career he took substances that have since been banned by Major League Baseball.

Ed Sprague, now in his fifth season as baseball coach at University of the Pacific, said he used amphetamines and Androstenedione and once hit a home run with a corked bat. When asked directly about steroids, Sprague said he couldn't condemn all steroid users in baseball because he used Andro, which was banned under the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, and amphetamines, a form of speed known in baseball as "greenies."

"Well, amphetamines are illegal now, too, and I took those, so am I going to stand on one side and not the other side?" Sprague said. "I took Andro, and they banned that. So, am I the cleanest guy? No, but I tried to be as strong and as healthy as I could as long as I could for my career."

Pacific athletic director Lynn King said Wednesday evening he was "surprised" by the revelations.

"All of this is new information for me, and, obviously, I'm going to need to talk to Ed about this in greater depth than we had a chance to tonight," King said. "It's all new information, and once I have a chance to have more discussions with him, I'll be able to process it."

Sprague starred at St. Mary's High School and Stanford before the Toronto Blue Jays selected him with the 25th pick in the first round of the 1988 amateur draft. He is the only player ever to win a College World Series, Olympic gold medal and World Series.

Sprague spent 11 seasons in the major leagues, most of it with the Blue Jays, before retiring in 2001. He hit a dramatic game-winning home run against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning of the second game of the 1992 World Series.

Sprague said he started using Andro in the mid- to late 1990s. He hit a career-high 36 home runs in 1996.

"It could have been '96 ..." Sprague said. "I could have taken Andro then ... and I might have. I don't remember everything I took."

Andro, originally sold as a dietary supplement, was popularized in the 1990s by sluggers such as Mark McGwire. The United States Food and Drug Administration banned its sale in April 2004 because the drug posed significant health risks commonly associated with steroids. It was banned by baseball that same the year and reclassified as an anabolic steroid in 2005.

Amphetamines, which give players heightened energy and awareness, have been rampant in baseball since the 1940s. They were not banned by baseball until 2006.

"That was an ultimate part of the game," Sprague said. "It was in the locker room forever. It was either a diet pill or a caffeine pill or whatever it was to give you more energy, and that was more prevalent than anything else. Is that a performance enhancer? Yeah, I guess it is if you're dog-ass tired."

Wooden bats can be modified by hollowing out the barrel of the bat and filling it with crushed cork, rubber balls, sawdust or other materials that make the bat lighter. Six players have been caught using corked bats since 1970.

This practice was long believed to increase bat speed and power, but in recent years physicists have demonstrated that corked bats actually reduce a hitter's power.

"We hit with them in (batting practice) a lot. I know a couple guys in the game hit with them," Sprague said. "I hit with one in a game once, but I was so scared after I hit it. ... That's the last time I ever did it."